Pests that Pose Serious Health Risks to Your Family

Pests can cause costly damage to your property once they decide to take up residence in your home. Besides damaging your home, however, pests and insects can also pose serious health risks to your family.

Here are some of the common household pests that if left neglected in your home, can endanger your family’s health:

Cockroaches
People who have weak immune systems can be very sensitive to the allergens carried by cockroaches. These allergens which are commonly found in the saliva, droppings and decomposing bodies of cockroaches can worsen the severity of asthma symptoms and trigger allergic reactions particularly among children. Cockroaches are also known to carry a number of bacteria such as the e coli and salmonella that can contaminate your food and cooking utensils when these pests are left inside your home.

Ants
Ants are not just unsightly creatures that crawl in your food. They also pose danger to your health since they carry disease- carrying organisms in their body that make them capable of spreading diseases such as dysentery and smallpox. The sight of one ant in your home indicates that there are already hundreds of them so try to find out where these tiny pests come from. Getting rid of ants can be difficult but knowing their harboring habits makes it easier to manage ant infestation.

Rodents
Getting in contact with surfaces, water and food items that have been urinated by rats, mice, and moles can put you at risk of leptospirosis, a disease that can cause high fever, vomiting, red eyes and diarrhea. Serious forms of leptospirosis are also associated with meningitis, hearing loss and azotemia. Contact with rodent fecal matter, saliva and urine can also cause Hantavirus, a disease characterized by flu-like symptoms that can progress to life threatening breathing problems .Rodent droppings can give you an indication you have an infestation at home. You can use baits and traps to catch and kill rodents. You can use poisons as well but be extremely careful with pesticides because they can be dangerous if they get into your food.

Fleas and Ticks
Although fleas and ticks are primarily animal pests, they carry along dangerous diseases that can be transmitted to your family. The Lyme disease and the Rocky Mountain spotted fever, for example, are illnesses that humans can get from ticks. Fleas also cause severe skin itching, skin infection and diseases such as typhus and cat-scratch fever. Regularly check your pets for fleas and make it an imperative to keep your home tick and flea-free.

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